Dr Murdoch Interviewed on Spying via Metadata

UCL's Dr Steven Murdoch was interviewed on the subject of authorities tracking people via the use of metadata. The topics covered include the breadth of metadata tracking in the US (with one interpentation suggesting up to 25000 people tracked in relation to a single suspect), as well as the power and significance of metadata. Dr Murdoch quoted former NSA & CIA Director David cole: "We kill people based on metadata". At the same time, Dr Murdoch criticised the lack of legal protections regarding metadata: “'Metadata is not sensitive so it doesn’t deserve protection of the court system.' That’s the prevailing thought process in UK legislation”.

The interviews were related to a recent Stanford research paper, demonstrating the practicality of metadata analysis, available here.

The BBC Radio 4 interview is available here. [Interview starts at 14m55s]

The BBC World Service interview is available here. [Interview starts at 17m30s, Segment starts at 14m35s]